Heel tap



July 30, 1935. J. R. LOOSMORE El AL 2,009,505

HEEL TAP 3mm James 7;.[oo5more Filed Sept. 11, 1934 Maicom B. zS/zannon Patented July 30, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HEEL TAP James R. Loosmore and Malcom B. Shannon, St. Louis, Mo. Application September 11, 1934, SerialNo. 743,595

2 Claims. (01. 36-36) This invention relates to shoes and more particularly to removable heel taps.

The main object of the invention is to provide a heel construction having a tap which can be manually renewed or replaced without the use of any tools.

Another object of the invention is to provide an interchangeable heel tap which is slidably attached to a heel of a shoe and locking means for holding the tap against accidental separation from the heel after being locked in position.

A further object of the invention is to arrange the construction so that the heel will have the appearance of a standard constructed heel and that it will be impossible to ascertain except by close inspection that the tap is separable.

Other objects will appear as the disclosure progresses. The drawing is intended to merely indicate a possible embodiment of the invention. It is obvious that the actual needs of manufacture may necessitate certain mechanical changes. It is therefore not intended to limit the invention to the embodiment illustrated but rather to define such limits in the appended claims. 25 For a more general understanding of the invention attention is called to the drawing in which similar reference characters denote like parts throughout the specification.

Figure 1 is a view of the heel portion of the shoe with the tap in place.

Figure 2 is a similar view as Figure 1 but showing the tap partly removed.

Figure 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a bottom perspective view of the heel with the tap removed.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the upper face of the tap.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of the heel.

Figure '7 is a side view of the tap plate and Figure 8 is an end view thereof.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, numeral I designates the heel of a shoe of any preferred style or shape and 2 the removable tap fastened to the heel. The fastening means consists of a heel plate 3 attached to the bottom of the heel which latches together with a coacting tap plate 4 attached to the top of the tap. The contour of the heel plate corresponds to the shape of the heel and is fastened in place by the nails 5. The center of the heel plate is dished out as at 6 and in the center of the dished out portion is a central slot 1. As noted in Figure 4 a pair of lateral slots 8 are cut in the plate in order to make the free 55 ends 9 resilient. Cut in the said free ends are apertures ID.

The tap plate is made of one piece of material and bent to form an elongated top portion II, a restricted neck portion [2 anda shoulder portion [3. Leading from each of the shoulder portions are two spikes I4 adapted to be driven in the heel tap and thereby keep the plate firmly.

attached thereto. The sides of the forward end of the plate are bent downwardly to form prongs I5. Behind the prongs are provided cut-out portions l 6 in order to make the area around the said prongs resilient.

In attaching the tap to the heel, the edge H of the tap plate is brought against the ends 9 of the heel plate and the restricted neck portion E2 of the tap plate entered into the slot 1 as far as it will go. The'prongs I5 will then snap into the slots l0 and the structurewill be latched together. To remove the tap all that is necessary is to'pull on the tap in the reverse direction.

It will thus be seen that we'have provided a simple, inexpensive and efiicient means to renew the worn out portion of a heel. The tap can be renewed by any person unskilled in the art of shoe repairing without any special tools or implements and will keep securely locked against any accidental separation. The dished out portion 6 of the heel plate and the top surface of the tap plate are slightly concave so that they will be resiliently latched together and obviate any annoying rattle of the co-operating parts.

Having described our invention, we claim:

1. In a device of the class described, the combination, with a heel body, of a replaceable tap,

a heel plate having a central dished out portion 1 attached to the heel body, said heel plate having restricted neck portion'lying in said central slot v of the heel plate, and prongs at one end of said tap plate adapted to enter the said apertures of said heel plates, the dished out portion of the heel plate and the top face of the tap plate being slightly concave in the direction'of movement of the tap onto the heel.

2. In a device of the class described, a heel plate, the periphery of said heel plate corresponding in outline with the contour of a heel, the central portion of said plate being dished out and provided with a central slot and two lateral slots, the said dished out portion between the central slot and said lateral slots being resilient and provided with apertures, and a tap plate provided with a restricted neck portion lying in said central slot of said heel plate, said dished out portion being slightly concave in a longitudinal direction.

JAMES R. LOOSMORE. MALCOM B. SHANNON. 

